Chapter 94 - Uncle Came to Make Trouble
Chapter 94: Uncle Came to Make Trouble
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Qiao Jinniang thought she should find time to have a good talk with her mother.
Qiao Li was different from Qiao Ruoshui. No matter how arrogant and willful Qiao Ruoshui was, she couldn’t harm the foundation of the Duke Mansion.
But if Qiao Li wasn’t educated properly, he might cause a disaster for the Qiao family once he grew up and became an official.
While the brothers and sisters were frolicking, a rough voice came from outside.
“Don’t stop me. I just want to ask my sister and brother-in-law how can a niece treat her own aunt like that? She hasn’t become the concubine of the Crown Prince but she already dares to be so unfilial!”
It was Earl Zheng who came, ignoring the obstruction of the guards of the Duke Mansion and barging in.
When Qiao Jinniang saw Earl Zheng, she didn’t doubt that he was her mother’s biological brother. Although he looked a bit old, she could vaguely see the similarities in facial features between him and the Duchess.
“Brother, what are you talking about? What made you break into the Duke Mansion at night?”
Duke Anyuan sounded annoyed.
Although Earl Zheng was his brother-in-law, Duke Anyuan Mansion was not a place that people could break in at will.
The Duchess stood up and asked, “Brother, what happened?”
Earl Zheng’s eldest son, Zheng Bo, accused, “Your good daughter humiliated my mother to please a concubine in Earl Cheng Mansion.
“My mother just said that she shouldn’t have done that, but she ordered her servants to drag my mother into Tasty Pavilion and tortured her.
“When my mother returned home, she couldn’t afford the humiliation and tried to commit suicide several times. If the maids hadn’t found out about it, she would have hanged herself.”
Earl Zheng gnashed his teeth and said resentfully, “Sister, Brother-in-law, if you don’t punish Qiao Jinniang. Boer’s mother won’t be able to live!”
The Duchess looked at her delicate daughter in shock and asked in disbelief, “Jinniang, did you really do that?”
Qiao Jinniang said frankly, “Yes.”
The Duke and the Duchess looked at each other, but they didn’t blame Qiao Jinniang.
The Duchess knew her sister-in-law’s temperament too well.
If it weren’t for their kinship, she would definitely ignore such a disgusting snob, but she was her relative so.
“Brother, if Jinniang has offended you, I apologize for her.” the Duke said, “Brother, please have a cup of tea first.”
Qiao Jinniang said, “Lord Zheng, I hit Madam Zheng for the sake of your Zheng family. After all, His Royal Highness also kowtowed to my foster parents and called them ‘Mother and Father’ back then.
“However, Madam Zheng said that my foster parents were vulgar stupid slaves. Then what was His Royal Highness who knelt down to them?
“Besides, my foster father had saved His Royal Highness’ life, and he was also the father-in-law of the future duchess of Duke Qin Mansion.
“But Mrs. Zheng insulted my foster parents so terribly. If this is known by the Crown Prince and Duke Qin, she wouldn’t have just been beaten!
Zheng Bo looked lasciviously at Qiao Jinniang. This woman was really beautiful, and her eloquence was very seductive to him too.
His mother forbade him to touch Qiao Ruoshui, but another cousin who was more beautiful than Qiao Ruoshui had returned to the Qiao family. With in this mind, he said flirtatiously,
“Are you still using His Royal Highness as an excuse? It’s a pity that His Royal Highness doesn’t take you seriously at all! But if you call me Dear Cousin, I’ll…”
Seeing this, the Duke got angrier. “Qiao Yu is my sworn brother. There is nothing wrong with Jinniang defending his reputation.”
Zheng Bo said, “Uncle, are you serious? Do you think there aren’t enough jokes in your family yet? Recognize a merchant as your swom brother? If so, forgive me for not being able to marry Ruoyi as my concubine. I am afraid of losing face!”
Qiao Ruoyi: “…”
Qiao Ruoyi’s mother lost her breath and fainted. “Mom!”
The Duke glared at the Duchess. “How come I don’t know that Ruoyi will marry Zheng Bo as a concubine?”
The Duchess hurriedly had someone to call the doctor over and said aggrievedly, “My mother and sister-in-law have mentioned this matter to me, but I rejected them.”
Seeing that Ruoyi’s mom faint, the Zheng family were afraid of being held accountable, so they cursed and left.
“Sister, Brother-in-law, if you don’t give us an explanation, then don’t blame us for being rude. We’ll expose Qiao Jinniang’s true face to everyone in Chang’an!”
The Duchess couldn’t believe what they said, then she said, “I would rather I never had such relatives!”
Then she wouldn’t have to tolerate so much for the Zheng family.
Seeing this farce had finally come to an end, Old Madam Qiao sighed and said, “It can be seen how important it is for a family to properly educate their offspring. The Zheng family was so prosperous when your grandfather and grandmother were still alive. Unfortunately, it has been only two generations,
and it has already declined to this point, alas.”
‘When Qiao Ruoyi’s mother woke up, she kowtowed to the Duchess and pleaded, “Madam, Ruoyi grew up in front of you. Please don’t make her a concubine.”
The Duchess helped her up and said, “If I do that, how can I still have the face to go out? You can be rest assured that I will find a good husband for Ruoyi.”
After worshiping the moon, the crowd dispersed.
‘When Qiao Jinniang returned to the Jin Garden, Yuyan gave Qiao Jinniang a letter. “Miss, the concierge said this letter was from Mr. Li Yun.”
Qiao Jinniang opened the letter and read the three-page letter.
“Jinniang, to sum up, His Royal Highness must have manipulated the Imperial Examination.
“In addition, after Ruyu left, I investigated Ruyu and found that she was very close to the two imperial maids His Royal Highness gave me.
“although Ruyu was instigated by Prince Mediocre to ruin your reputation, it was actually His Royal Highness who made Prince Mediocre notice Ruyu.
“Then, the two maids His Royal Highness gave me coerced and coaxed Ruyu into obeying Prince Mediocre. They said that if she didn’t, disaster would befall me.
“As for the matter of Ruyu, Prince Mediocre was seventy percent responsible, with His Royal Highness taking the remaining thirty percent.”
After Qiao Jinniang read the letter, she crumpled it into a ball. Lu Chen said that he never set her up?!
She stupidly thought that she had misunderstood Lu Chen because of Li Yun and felt guilty toward him.
She must be such a fool in his heart.
“Miss, it’s late at night. It’s time for you to sleep,” Hongling came over and said.
Qiao Jinniang burned the letter on the candle and said, “Okay, I’m going to sleep.”
It was so late and she couldn’t settle accounts with him now, so she could only go into her dreams and beat Lu Chen to relieve her anger.
August 17th.
Earl Zheng had a familiar censor to write a memorial, and before the morning court was held, he arrogantly showed this memorial to Duke Anyuan.
“Brother-in-law, have you thought of how you should compensate us? This is a memorial written by Censor Yang. If you don’t care about our kinship, then don’t blame me for showing this memorial to everyone.”
However, Duke Anyuan didn’t even give Earl Zheng a look.
When the court was held, the Crown Prince took the lead and said,
“Father, Duke Anyuan’s sworn brother, Qiao Yu, saved me when I was in Lin‘an. Now that Mr. Qiao Yufu’s death anniversary is approaching, I implore Father to grant him the posthumous title of Earl Lin’an.”
Officials of the Ministry of Rites: “…”
His Royal Highness really posed a difficult problem to them. His Majesty wanted to give Qiao Yu the title of General, but they all felt this title was too high and rejected.
Besides, the posthumous title proposed by His Royal Highness, Earl Lin’an, contained the “Lin” in His Majesty’s name, Huilin.
Emperor Huilin glanced at Lu Chen. Just when everyone thought that His Majesty would not indulge Lu Chen this time, they heard the Emperor say, “Okay.”
Earl Zheng hurriedly took back the memorial he was about to hand over.
In Prince Mediocre Mansion.
Qiao Ruoshui looked at the scars on her aunt’s face and listened to her tearful and bitter complaints.
She said with pity, “Aunt, don’t worry. I will definitely ask the prince to uphold justice for you, so you won’t be hit in vain..”